Friday, June 29, 2012

Lucky us again! The nice folks at Planet Dog sent us their new Orbee-Tuff Mazee Puzzle Dog Toy to try out for free, along with some of their pawsome Planet Dog EatsChicken and Pumpkin Pot Pie treats that work perfectly in the Mazee.

Gotta tell ya, I like this one!

It's soft and clear on the outside, and has a puzzle maze on the inside. Mum put in the biscuit and let me and Gracie go at it.

We played with it outside since there's lots of room. The Mazee got pretty dirty, but washed up very nicely, inside and out. Here's Gracie giving it a go. She worked for a while and finally got the treat, good girly!

It entertained us for quite a little while! Gracie never likes that rubbery smell and coating that sometimes comes with new rubbery toys, but this one didn't have it which she loved. It's quiet and durable (although for interactive play and not for chewing, supervision is highly recommended), non-toxic, recyclable (which we love!), and made in the USA.

We give it four paws up, and love having it as part of our repertoire of puzzle toys and games!

Helped Mum round up a couple of lost dogs and reunited them with their families

Bobbed for turkey hot dogs

Saw a mountain lion

Been featured in a coffee table book

Smelled bear scat

And so much more!

When you're young you just don't think of things like bucket lists. But once you reach a certain age, you want to enjoy certain things while you can still enjoy them! I've been fortunate to get to do a lot of things I've always wanted to enjoy throughout my life so far. But,I have a just few more big things left on my bucket list for the next year or so. This is just a start, I am sure more will come to me:

Thursday, June 14, 2012

We saw this new toy surfin' the interwebs the other day and just knew it would be a big hit with the Gracer!

The nice folks at Ziggo Pets were super kind and sent us one of their Crinkits not too long ago, to try out for free! Do Gracie and I love our jobs, or what?

Copy that!

So what is it?

It's this really cool tube like toy, with the outside made of ZigFlx material which is kind of rubbery (but not rubber) and flexible with a vanilla scent. You can insert a water bottle into, so it makes this pawsome crinkle sound when you play with it!

The outer shell protects the water bottle so it can last a long time. You can also put a smaller water bottle in it and use it as a treat dispenser. And we bet too that you could take off the water bottle lid (that came with the toy), leave the larger water bottle in it and insert a treat in the water bottle to make it an even more challenging treat dispenser. We're gonna try that for fun next. Cool huh?

Gracie had a blast testing it out. Mum threw it, she chased and ran with it. Mum even did a little tugging with Gracer with it and it held up really well!

We love, love, love that it's manufactured and sourced in the US! When it's time to retire it, it's completely recyclable. And it contains no BPA’s or Phthalates, is easy to rinse clean, keeps the nice vanilla scent (so Mum leaves it in the kitchen :) and it floats (found that out when Gracie ran and played with it in the pool), BOL! Oh and another thing? Sometimes those rubbery type toys have this weird coating on the outside when you purchase them new that really turns Gracie off. The Crinkits didn't have that coating, so Gracie could go mad over it right away!

Mum and Gracie liked it so much, Mum added it to the front page of my website - JohannTheDog.com. If you want to get one for your dog, you can get click through to our website or just go directly here,here, here or here!

Crinkits are cool! We sure thank them for letting us give they uber cool toy the Gracer test!

Mum worked hard the other day and got all the outside all cleaned up after putting up our super cool fence! And of course we had to take our official pic at the new place! This is me and Gracie on our front porch.

See any resemblance?
Yes, Gracie and I look like we belong on Green Acres, or at least are sporting a very American Gothic look, BOL!

If you're older, you may remember the TV show Green Acres. It ran from 1965 to 1970 or so and starred Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert, a married couple from New York who decide to live their dream (well his, anyway) and move to a farm in the country. Their famous pose parodied the classic American Gothic painting by Grant Wood.

American Gothic was painted in 1930 and featured Wood's sister and dentist as the models for the painting. The painting was inspired by a little white house that Wood saw in Eldon, Iowa that featured a Gothic style window in it's apex.

Since I'm a dog, I'm going to talk about attitude from a dog's point of view....

My Mum, she's a human, and like all humans comes with a multitude of human feelings and emotions. Although I have to say, she's a super positive person, loves life, enjoys her work, her friends and her time with me and my sis Gracie (and of course my kittie bros) whether we're playing, training, doing tricks, running agility, or just hanging out and cuddling on the couch.

She, like me, enjoys the positive of life, and likes to surround herself with people that feel the same. And she knows, just like I do, that being around positive definitely generates even more positive in her life.

I'm a dog, through and through; a sentient being, capable of a wide range of feelings, from fear, pain, love, excitement, nervousness and happiness to confidence, passiveness, sadness, jealousy and more. I'm not human and my feelings aren't as complex as a human's. But my feelings and resulting actions are definitely a direct result of my environment, whether that environment may be another dog or human, my Mum, a squirrel or deer, a smell, a noise, or anything else that peaks my senses and interest.

There are lots and lots of studies that show that dogs, like me, are sensitive to human emotions. One of our favorite books is Alexandria Horowitz's book, 'Inside of a Dog,' and it talks a lot about how dogs 'think' and 'feel' and why.

As a dog, my life pretty much revolves around my Mum and my environment. And since I spend most every waking and sleeping moment with my Mum, how she feels directly effects how I feel and how I behave.

If Mum gets upset (which is rare and nearly always short-lived) about something, I become concerned and immediately want to make her feel better. And, if she gets all excited about something good, I want to join in the celebration with her! Being the sheltie that I am, that means I start to spin, run around the house and look for a toy to play with, run around the cabin with it, and bark and bark in excitement!

The dictionary defines attitude as:

at·ti·tude

Mum learned early on in our agility career, that when she goes out there and walks the course, comes back to my crate feeling really confident about our running plan, excited to run with me and looking forward to some fun agility with her best bud, I feel all that confidence and energy from her and am so ready to roll! I run faster, with more confidence, more energy and have lots and lots more fun.

And whether we Q or not, it doesn't matter, we always have a good time because we're together, both doing what we love. And if Mum messes up my run, she takes time to reflect, but always makes a plan for the next time to make it better and moves on.

Dogs can teach humans a lot about life and attitude in my opinion. We don't hang on to stuff, we always see the best in people, we always are looking for a fun time. And unless anything or anyone around us tries to alter our environment and consequently our feelings and behavior in a negative way, we will go on with life being the most full of life, happy dogs on the planet.

Life is about learning, experiencing and enjoying, moving on and not getting bogged down in those things that may bring us down. I fully believe that attitude directly effects how much you enjoy your life.

Take it from a dog, having a great attitude makes everything better in agility and in life!

For those of you who are visiting my blog for the first time, I'm Johann, the dog, a seven year old rescue and accomplished agility dog. My Mum, Leslie May, is my agility handler and trainer, pet business marketing consultant, co-host of my other blog Raise A Green Dog, best friend, constant companion, and has my heart through and through.

Friday, June 01, 2012

So far Mum's killed about six of them...a few crawling around in the living area. She found one in a box she unpacked, eek! And found one in the bathroom sink, eek, again!

Spring is the time we see them the most. Guess they are coming out of their shell so to speak and looking for food and shelter.

Mum has a pretty good eye when it comes to movement and will go after them pretty quickly with a shoe. She's sprinkled some Diatomaceous Earth around the inside and outside of the cabin to cut down on them (since they like to eat bugs that DE will get rid of), but it's taking time to work.

Most folks around here says if they sting you it's a lot like a wasp sting, a little more powerful than a bee. So she's keeping the Benadryl handy for all of us too, just in case!

We've got more here than the other cabins we've been in, so Mum may have to step up the DE!

Being a rescue dog, Charlie came with some issues and really declared unadoptable. But B.J. was smitten at first sight, as was her husband, so they adopted Charlie. Through the year, they worked diligently to help Charlie become the dog they knew he could be and help him work through his food guarding and temper tantrums, and resistance to want to be touched and held.

It's a great little read that shared how he eventually works through his issues, becomes a very loving member of the Taylor family and, in the process, changes three lives forever! We enjoyed the book!

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